Leylines

I really hate having to give negative feedback on a small indie game like Leylines; making a game is hard and making one that attempts to take up the mantle of 4x classics like Master of Magic is even harder. Having said that I just cannot recommend Leylines at this moment. Presentation-wise I was charmed by the low-key graphics. Game graphics are clean and easy to read and the artwork has a certain unpretentious style that reminds me of late 90s Microprose titles like Magic the Gathering. Overall the game's music is actually pretty good but limited (it starts to get repetitive after a short while). However, those positives alone don't make a game worthy of recommending. I failed to get through the tutorial, not because I didn't understand it, but becasue I think something broke and it failed to progress. Parts of the UI are nice but other bits need work, unit control for example was annoying at first until I got the hang of it. I explored most of the tutorial map you start off on, built a few buildings and units, researched a half-dozen spells but that was it. I lost interest at that point. Despite relatively low price there are numerous other fantasy-based 4x games out there, both old and new, that do everything Leylines does and more. Leylines feels a little undercooked despite the fact it is not Early Access. I sincerely hope the developers continue to work on Leylines. You guys have a lot of potential in this title. Keep working at it, keep polishing it. It has all the potential to be a fun little 4x game. I'll definitely keep my eye on it to potentially revisit it in the future.

Unfortunately Steam does not give a neutral review. What I liked: Great art. Fabulous, stylish, original. Respect for the painter. What disappointed me: Design decisions about the structure of the game is a clone of the decisions of the 25-year-old with all the negative details: total micro-management and "turtle disease" turn-based strategies. But I admit that these features may appeal to someone. - despite the statements in the description of the game - there is no quick gameplay, you can not avoid micromanagement. This was due to the fact that the game was made a clone of 4-x games of the 1990s. Here the same "turtle disease", here the same ancient gameplay. - The game promised a unique races, but if we look at the screenshot from the store page, we will see the city with the totem of the Indians of North America, huts - and on the control panel standard interface (farmer, worker, trader, mage) with manual distribution of the population in these four professions, which causes cognitive dissonance. I already understand that any goblins-pigs, dwarves-spiders and high techno-elves have the same type of city with the same management and the same principle of development and expansion. - A long exploration of the map, a long construction of facilities in the cities. For 60 minutes of the game I only saw the first unit of the enemy and put 4 cities of which two construction is not available and one is in the process of growth and construction buildings. What not, but not a problem to add. - there is no encyclopedia on type Civilization. Not described to the player concepts, buildings, units. Agriculturist make the farm. Great! How many farms? Does the city need five farms of 2,000 people? If the city has three of the farmer whether do I need to build to the six farms, or only the number of farms is equal to working farmers? - the top panel shows the stock of money and mana, and their balance is shown only on the global map. Thus, when changing the number of employees in the city constantly have to switch to the global map to adjust the balance of resources. It is a pity that you in the manufacturing process forgot about the necessary and interesting key features of the game, which are indicated in its description and as a result released a clone of old games

Tried this for a while, but ended up refunding it. Keep in mind that I only played the tutorial so that I could refund it in case I didn't like it -- there is the possibility that things improve later in the game. If you never played games of this type before, you might still enjoy it as an introductory title. I had hoped it would be similar to [i]Master of Magic[/i], but it falls short of this classic in many ways: [list] [*]Drawings are not very good; some character portraits have weirdly proportioned limbs and head [*]Combat is very simplistic, and there is no option to auto-resolve. Additionally, there seems to be no way of casting spells during combat. [*]As far as I could tell, there are no dungeons on the strategic map, only specific locations where a unit can camp for bonus resources [*]There seems to be no mana system -- you can keep casting spells one after the other [*]If you instruct a unit to go to a tile beyond its maximum number of moves that week (so that it moves automatically the next week) and an enemy unit happens to be in your way, you end up automatically attacking that unit (there is no "interrupt" event that allows you to reconsider) [/list]

На первый взгляд, игра выглядит как такой Master of Magic Lite. Есть маги, но почти нет дипломатии. Есть разная местность, которая влияет на бои и движение, но бои скорее напоминают Warlords. Есть возможность строительства городов, но ты ограничен одной расой... Потом вдруг оказалось, что это было ограничение первой карты кампании, и после победы мои возможности расширились! Ура? Нет, не ура. Потому что теперь-то видны ограничения. Рас всего восемь (причём давать их мне будут, судя по всему, строго по кампании: одна карта=+одна раса). В городах чужой расы нельзя ничего строить, и там всё время падает мораль. Дипломатия всё так же отсутствует (она типа есть, но противник отвергает любые мои действия). Магии мало. ИИ тупой. В целом, таки да, это MoM Lite. Но они отрезали слишком много важного, чтобы мне было приятно в это играть. Если бы Master of Magic был запечёным кроликом в яблоках, Leylines потянула бы на гамбургер. В целом съедобно, но играть я в это не буду.

I am surprised this game has not gained enough attention as I will have to spread the word out about this game. Here is what I like about this game: It has a very interesting Hero System meaning as you gain experience points you can spend experience points to improve a number of skills along with improving your main stats of your Hero like health, defense, attack, resist and moving around on the world map. It has at least 20-30 skills you can spend your experience on . Other 4x games when you gain a level you get some increases based on that new level but in this game you spend your experience as you see fit so there really are no levels in this game so I think it is actually a better system. For example one skill is about mining so you wanna earn more gold for your empire you can invest into skills to help the economy. Want to learn combat types of skills you can do that as well so there is many directions you can spend your experience on which I really think shines in Leylines compared to other 4x fantasy games. The regular units I believe can only goto Level 3 the Elite Level so Heroes are the primary Core Elite Units in this game sorta like how Master of Magic has done their system except the Hero System is better in Leylines then Masters of Magic since you can spend experience on a host of different skills. The Music is not to bad but not enough sound tracks but it is ok. I have read somewhere that neutral cities build their own units and attack your cities sorta like how the A.I's do adding a extra lair of chalenge to the game. This game is not as deep as Deity Empires being my favorite game but this game has a more interesting Hero System and it seems to have a descent dialog with other wizards you come into contact with to trade, demand or call a truce etc. Another thing I love about Leylines is that the Heroes are much more unique then Deity Empires Heroes meaning they have a real portrait like Masters of Magic and how that games Heroes did their unique Heroes Portraits. The Graphics in this game while not the best they are unique and pretty cool compared to Deity Empires Graphics. The Battle System in Leylines is actually pretty cool, battles play out the same style as Warlords IV Heroes of Etheria where u get to control your units and which other unit to attack. This is a simple battle system but it is pretty cool actually compared to other 4x game battle systems. I have only played the tutorial and it is actually really hard to beat so the A.I is great at defending that is for sure or maybe I am still learning. Sadly, it would appear there are no items in this game or a crafting system to give items to your heroes but semi makes up for it with a unique hero system as mentioned in my above comment. Items for your heroes and a item crafting system is missing in this game and would be a welcome addition should they ever decide to continue developing this game. I will post more information in a updated review as I continue to play along and I'll probably do a let's play series in the near future seeing how nobody else has done one. I would ignore the negative reviews as this game is a pretty good 4x fantasy game it also has the charm of Age of Wonders the first game but with much better graphics that Leylines has. Thanks for reading and I would encourage folks to support the developers and get the game and give it a chance it is a hidden gem for sure and if you like 4x fantasy games like Age of Wonders, Masters of Magic, Deity Empires, Eador Masters of the Broke World, Warlock 2 you will most certainly like this game so get it and enjoy. This game also has a cool multiplayer system as well with split screen as well so it is a perfect game to play locally I am not sure about on the internet but I am up for a game so feel free to add me as a friend if u wanna play sometime. Take care and God Bless, Ronnie

Пытался заставить себя "полюбить" игру, но в итоге не выдержал и запросил возврат средств (впервые в жизни бтв). Хоть и огромный фанат 4х/глобальных стратегий, особенно в фэнтези сеттинге, но тут совсем уж сыро. По порядку о минусах: 1)Полная неразбериха с боевкой, за все отыгранное время я так и не понял, почему мой стак хайест тир варлоков проигрывает бомжам с луками. Интуитивно не понятно в боевке абсолютно ничего, а объяснения в игре никакого и нет, разбирайся мол сам(а). 2)Режима автобитвы кстати нет, так что проскипать унылый процесс боя не выйдет. 3)Дипломатия тут исключительно для галочки, а жаль, она могла бы быть очень весомым аргументом в пользу игры. Вообще считаю, что дипломатия это то, на чем должны строиться такие игры, а тут из всей дипломатии полторы функции, да и те не работают, потому что ИИ овощ. 4)К слову о ИИ, как я уже сказал, это редкостный овощ, который судя по всему очень яростно пытается суициднуться, лишь бы не участвовать в этой шараде. Играл на нормале, в итоге 4 из 6 противников проиграли, до того, как я их встретил. Это просто 10/10. А кстати, самое рофельное то, что после того как ИИ погибает, его империю занимают варвары, и вот варвары эти весьма слаженно действуют, особенно когда у них города 4х проигравших империй, в итоге эти самые варвары и становятся главным оппонентом по игре. 5)Это уже субъективная мелочь, но меня бесит, когда я не могу выбрать за кого будут играть ИИ противники, я хочу сам выбрать себе противников лидеров, их расу и тд, тут этого всего разумеется нет. Да и вообще с кастомайзом все не оч, карт всего 6, есть конечно вариант самому создать карту, но там все через пень-колоду, так что ну его. 6)А, ну и вишенка на торте, магия. Игра вроде как про магов, но магия при этом тут вообще ни в пiздy, ни в красную армию. За всю игру на повторе юзал один спелл, которые давал 50 голды, остальные вообще не понадобились. Короче говоря, хотел хорошую глобальную фентези стратежку, а получил желтую струю на лицо. Обидно, досадно, но ладно. Мб допилят как-нибудь, а пока брать явно не стоит.

The game has some ergonomic issues, like poor map navigation and a (IMHO) suboptimal key mapping that caused me to do the wrong thing a few times, but I think the game is a nice addition to the list of MoM spiritual successors. It has some novel mechanics and I think it's well balanced, so I've enjoyed my time.

Do not buy, this game is unfinished and broken. Basic actions such as the assassinate skill from the assassin don't work and crash the game. The main draw such as casting spells from your wizard also don't work. I got partway through the tutorial and the computer simply hung out in a single town with an invincible 6 creatures. I controlled the entire map with 6 towns and I could not defeat them no matter how powerful the army. Maybe it will get fixed in the future but may as well save the money if you can

The game is unplayable with 4K screen without changing the windows screenresolution. The fullscreen button in the settings is at least for me nonfunctional and the tiny font size renders the game unplayable.

Game lagging every 2-3 second. Playing is impossible.